Reply of the Philadelphia brigade association to the foolish and absurd narrative of Lieutenant Frank A. Haskell, which appears to be endorsed by the Military order of the loyal legion commandry [!] of Massachusetts and the Wisconsin History commission

Battle of Gettysburg

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Army of the PotomoLC over

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THE PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE

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THE JAMES VERNER SCAIFE

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CIVIL WAR LITERATURE

THE GIFT OF

JAMES VERNER SCAIFE

CLASS OF 1889

1919

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3 1924 030 924 637

Cornell University
Library

The original of tiiis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030924637

BOWERS PRINTINS COMPANY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.

PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE
ASSOCIATION

TO THE

FOOLISH and ABSURD NARRATIVE

OF

Lieutenant FRANK A. HASKELL

WHICH APPEARS TO BE
ENDORSED BY

THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE
LOYAL LEGION

COMMANDRY OF MASSACHUSETTS
AND

THE WISCONSIN HISTORY
COMMISSION

COMPLIMENTS OF THE

PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE ASSOCIATION

MARCH, J9J0

HEADQUARTERS,

PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE ASSOCIATION,

S. W. COR. FIFTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS,

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

At the stated meeting of the Survivors of the Philadel-
phia Brigade, Second Brigade, Second Division, Second
Corps, Army of the Potomac, held at the above place,
Tuesday evening, September 7, 1909, letters were read
from Gen. Alexander S. Webb, who commanded the
Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, July
I, 2 and 3, 1863, requesting the consideration of the
Brigade Association to the most astounding misstate-
ments made by First Lieut. Frank Aretas Haskell, 6th
Wisconsin Infantry, in a paper said to have been written
by him under date of July 16, 1863, two weeks after the
Battle of Gettysburg had been fought and addressed to
his brother, who printed it for private circulation about
fifteen years afterward.

The letters of Gen. Webb were accompanied by a vol-
ume of 94 pages, containing the most absurd statements
as to the action of the Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle
of Gettysburg, which, upon being read, led to the unani-
mous adoption of the following preamble and resolu-
tion:

"WHEREAS, in the 'Narrative of the Battle of Get-
tysburg,' by Lieut. Frank A. Haskell, First Lieut. 6th
Wisconsin Infantry, and an aide upon the staff of Gen.
John Gibbon, said to have been written within a few
days after the battle, and reprinted in 1898 as a part of
the history of the Class of 1854, Dartmouth College,
and republished in 1908 under the auspices of the Mas-
sachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the

2 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

Loyal Legion of the United States, the Philadelphia
Brigade has been recklessly, and shamelessly, and
grossly misrepresented; therefore, with the view of cor-
recting these wilfull misstatements, it is

"RESOLVED, That a committee consisting of the
officers of the Philadelphia Brigade Association, to-
gether with two comrades from each of the four regi-
ments of the Brigade, be appointed to carefully consider
the matter, and, if deemed advisable by the committee,
to publicly enter its protest against the malicious state-
ments "reprinted in 1898 as a part of the history of the
Class of 1854 of Dartmouth College,' and again repub-
lished by the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts in igo8,
with a degree of recklessness and disregard for truth
unparalleled in any publication relating to the Civil War ;
statements so false and malevolent as to be wholly un-
worthy of a class of Dartmouth College, or of a Com-
mandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States; of
the name of Capt. Daniel Hall, of General Howard's staff
— who prepared the story for publication — or of 'Chas.
Hunt, Captain U. S. V., Committee on Publication.' "

The committee named under this resolution consists
of these Comrades: Wm. G. Mason, Commander; John
Quinton, Vice-Commander; Chas. W. Devitt, Quarter-
master; John W. Frazier, Adjutant; John E. Reilly,
Wm. S. Stockton, Joseph MacCarroU and James Thomp-
son, Trustees, and Edward Thompson and James Duffy,
6gth; John W. Dampman and Edward P. McMahon,
71st; John Reed and Thos J. Longacre, 72d; Wm. H.
Neiler and Thos. Thompson, io6th Regiment, Pennsyl-
vania Volunteers.

An examination by the Philadelphia Brigade Asso-
ciation of the records relating to the "Narrative" written
by Lieut. Haskell, discloses these facts:

Fftst — That Lieut. Haskell entered the service in July,
1 85 1, as First Lieutenant of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry,

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 3

and in June, 1862, became an Aide-de-Camp upon the
Staff of Brigadier General John Gibbon, and was serv-
ing as such at the time he wrote his "Narrative" of the
Battle of Gettysburg. On February 9, 1864, Haskell was
commissioned Colonel of the 36th Wisconsin Regiment,
which at his request was assigned to the First Brigade,
Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac.
The Division was commanded by Gen. Gibbon, Gen.
Hancock commanding the Corps. In the advance of
Gibbon's Division at the Battle of Cold Harbor, against
a strongly intrenched position. Col. Henry McKeen, who
commanded the First Brigade, was killed. Colonel Has-
kell succeeded to the command, and he, too, fell mor-
tally wounded under the heavy artillery and musketry
fire, against which his Brigade advanced. Haskell^ rec-
ord as a soldier of the Civil War is, therefore, an envi-
able one; but as a writer of events of the war he was
absurd, reckless and unreliable.

Second — The manuscript alleged to have been pre-
pared by Lieut. Haskell, as stated by him, "At the Head-
quarters, second Corps D'Armee, Army of the Potomac,
near Harper's Ferry, July 16, 1863," was sent to his
brother, who printed it about fifteen years later in a
pamphlet of 72 pages for private circulation.

Third — The book was reprinted in 1898 as part of the
History of the Class of 1854, Dartmouth College, in
honor of Colonel Haskell's memory, but with certain
omissions that severely reflected upon the Eleventh
Corps, Gen. Sickles and President Lincoln, which are
explained in a foot-note by Capt. Daniel Hall, a class-
mate of Haskell's, who was an Aide upon the Staff of
Gen. O. O. Howard, and who prepared the Haskell story
for republication.

Fourth — The pamphlet published in 1878, by Has-
kell's family for private circulation, contained 72 pages ;
the costly volume published in 1908, under the auspices

4 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

of the Commandery of Massachusetts, Loyal Legion of
the United States, prepared by Captain Daniel Hall, an
Aide upon the Staff of Gen. Howard, Commander of the
Eleventh Corps, with the ofHcial endorsement of "Chas.
Hunt, Captain, U. S. V., Committee on PubUcation" is
a book of 94 pages; therefore, apparently containing
much more matter than was originally published by the
Haskell family in 1878.

The charge of cowardice on the part of the Philadel-
phia Brigade, purported to have been made by Lieut.
Haskell, is printed on pages 60, 61 and 62 of the volume
published by the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and
is in part as follows:

"Unable to find my General, I gave up hunting as use-
less — I was convinced General Gibbon could not be on
the field ; I left him mounted ; I could have easily found
him now had he so remained, but now, save myself, there
was not a mounted officer near the engaged lines — and
was riding towards the right of the Second Division,
with purpose to stop there, as the most eligible position
to watch the further progress of the battle, then to be
ready to take part, according to my own notions, wher-
ever and whenever occasion presented. The conflict
was tremendous, but I had seen no wavering in all our
line. Wondering how long the rebel ranks, deep though
they were, could stand our sheltered volleys, I had come
near my destination, when — great heavens! were my
senses mad? — the larger portion of Webb's Brigade —
my God, it was true — there by the group of trees and
the angles of the wall, was breaking from the cover of
the works, and without orders or reason, with no hand
uplifted to check them, was falling back, a fear-stricken
flock of confusion. The fate of Gettysburg hung upon
a spider's single thread. A great magnificent passion
came on me at the instant ; not one that overpowers and
confounds, but one that blanches the face and sublimes

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 5

«very sense and faculty. My sword that had always
hung idle by my side, the sign of rank only, in every
battle, I drew, bright and gleaming, the symbol of com-
mand. Was not that a fit occasion and those fugitives
the men on whom to try the temper of the Solingen
steel? All rules and proprieties were forgotten, all con-
siderations of person and danger and safety despised;
for as I met the tide of those rabbits, the damned red
flags of the rebellion began to thicken and flaunt along
the wall they had just deserted, and one was already
waving over the guns of the dead Gushing. I ordered
those men to 'halt,' and 'face about,' and 'fire,' and they
heard my voice and gathered my meaning, and obeyed
my commands. On some unpatriotic backs, of those
not quick of comprehension, the flat of my sabre fell, not
lightly; and at its touch their love of country returned,
and with a look at me as if I were the destroying angel,
as I might have become theirs, they again faced the
«nemy. General Webb soon came to my assistance. He
was on foot, but he was active, and did all that one
could do to repair the breach or to avert its calamity."

Colonels O'Kane and Tschudy, of the 6gth, were killed
in action; Baxter, of the jzd, wounded and carried off
the field; Morehead and his io6th Regiment had been
sent by Gibbon to the support of Howard's Corps,
thereby materially weakening the Brigade ; Col. R. Penn
Smith, of the 71st, and Lieut. Col. Theo. Hesser, of the
7 2d, were with their commands — ^which they never left —
encouraging their men to even greater deeds of heroism ;
Webb is yet living and in a supplemental paper to this
Reply will state specifically where the Commander of
the Brigade and his Adjutant were and what they did.

While Haskell has long been dead — killed in action at
Cold Harbor, in 1864, and it seems cruel to speak harshly
of the dead, yet duty to the living, and to the honored
(dead of the Philadelphia Brigade compels reply. The

6 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

unreliability of Lieut, Haskell as a writer of military
matters was equaled only by the egotism of the youthful
Lieutenant. Thus this reckless First Lieutenant wrote
of General Howard and General Doubleday, and thus
he maligned the brave men of the Eleventh Corps:

"The two divisions of the Eleventh Corps commanded
by Generals Schurz and Barlow, making but feeble op-
position to the advancing enemy, soon began to fall back.
Back in disorganized masses they fled into the town,
hotly pursued, and in lanes, in barns, in yards and cel-
lars, throwing away their arms, they sought to hide like
rabbits, and were captured unresisting by hundreds.

"I suppose our losses during the first day would exceed
five thousand, of whom a large number were prisoners.
Such usually is the kind of loss sustained by the Eleventh
Corps." (Haskell narrative, page 6.)

The actual loss of the Eleventh Corps was 153 officers
and 2,138 men killed and wounded, and 62 officers and
1,448 men captured and missing, a total of 3,801, thereby
attesting that at least 2,291 brave men of the Eleventh
Corps did not "hide like rabbits," but that they fell like
heroes facing the enemy.

And thus of General Doubleday as to his action dur-
ing Pickett's Charge on the afternoon of the third day:

"Doubleday on the left was too far off, and too slow.
On another occasion I had begged him to send his idle
regiments to support another line, battling with thrice
its numbers, and the 'Old Sumter Hero' had declined."
(Haskell narrative, page 62.)

If Haskell, or any other first lieutenant, would dare to
have had the impudence to direct a Major General, and
he a graduate of West Point, a soldier of distinction in.
the Mexican War, and placed in command of the First
Corps upon the death of Gen. Reynolds, is it not more

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 7

than likely, indeed, does it not seem certain that such a
presumptuous lieutenant would have been sent back to
his command under guard, if not committed to the guard
house?

And did not Capt. Daniel Hall, an Aide upon General
Howard's Staff, who prepared the Haskell "Narrative"
for republication; and the Military Order of the Loyal
Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts, in publishing
the Haskell "Narrative" become responsible for the Has-
kell slander upon Generals Howard and Doubleday, and
the brave men of the gallant Eleventh Corps, and of the
Philadelphia Brigade?

The egotism and recklessness of Haskell are in evi-'
dence upon almost every page of his book. On page 39
he says :

"I heard General Meade express dissatisfaction at
General Geary for making his attack. I heard General
Meade say that he sent an order to have the fight stopped,
but I believe the order was not given to Geary until
after the repulse of the enemy." Is it not clear that if
such an order had been sent and obeyed, the enemy
would not have been repulsed? Is it anywhere upon rec-
ord that General Meade sent such an order?

On page 82 of the Haskell "Narrative" of the Battle of
Gettysburg appears this silly statement:

"About six o'clock on the afternoon of the third of
July, my duties done upon the field, I quitted it to go
to the General (meaning Gibbon). My brave horse
Dick — poor creature! his good conduct in the battle
that afternoon had been complimented by a brigadier —
was a sight to see. He was literally covered with blood.
Struck repeatedly, his right thigh had been ripped open
in a ghastly manner by a piece of shell, and three bullets
were lodged deep in his body, and from his wounds the
blood oozed and ran down his sides and legs, and with

8 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

the sweat formed a bloody foam. To Dick belongs the
honor of first mounting that stormy crest before the
enemy, not forty yards away, whose bullets smote him,,
and of being the only horse there during the heat of
that battle."

Haskell might, with equal truth and egotism, have
written: "To Dick and his rider belong the honor of
meeting and repulsing Pickett's Division," and who can
say that it would not have been accorded equally as
generous consideration by the Loyal Legion of Massa-
chusetts, and the History Commission of Wisconsin, as
was given to all the other nonsense he wrote of the Battle
of Gettysburg.

It has been said of Pickett's Virginians, that accus-
tomed to handling a gun, or rifle, from boyhood, any
one of them could kill a jay bird at a distance of 150s
yards, but not one of Pickett's Division of 4,000 Vet-
erans could kill that horse or that first lieutenant, and
they the only horse and man in sight, and not forty
yards away, parading between Hancock's Corps of the
Union Army and Longstreet's Corps of the Confed-
erate Army.

Oh! Veterans of Pickett's Division, you who killed
or wounded 491 of our Comrades of the Philadelphia
Brigade from the time you began one of the most des-
perate charges ever recorded in the history of wars,
starting from Seminary Ridge, one mile distant from,
the Bloody Angle, until you reached the culminating^
point where the intrepid Armistead fell mortally
wounded within the lines of the Philadelphia Brigade.
You who made such slaughter in OUR RANKS AT
LONG RANGE could not kill First Lieutenant Frank
Aretas Haskell, or his horse, and they not forty yards
distant from your firing line, and he "the one solitary
horseman between the Second Division of Hancock's
Corps and Pickett's Division of Longstreet's Corps."

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 9

And the Military Order, Loyal Legion, Commandery
of Massachusetts, and the History Commission of Wis-
consin, as late as the year igo8 in expensive publica-
tions confirm the Haskell "Narrative" of his wild
"Buffalo Bill" ride between the Union and Confederate
lines, and depicting your skill as marksmen, with a
horse and officer as the inviting target not forty yards
distant— defying the bullets of the most skillful marks-
men of the Confederate Army.

Is there a veteran soldier of the Civil War, or even
a thoughtful man in the United States, who believes
this part of Haskell's Narrative "of riding between the
lines the one solitary horseman, and he not forty yards
distant from the enemy?" Do Captains Daniel Hall
and Charles Hunt, the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts,
and Wisconsin History Commission, themselves endors-
ing it, really believe it?

It was on the third day that "Dick" was plugged
with enough of Confederate lead to have warranted
Haskell in organizing a Company to mine the lead in
"Dick's" dead body. His horse "Billy" was pumped
just as full of lead on the second day, as this absurd
statement on page 37 attests:

"And my horse can hardly move. What can be the
reason? I know that he has been touched by two of
their bullets today, but not to wound or lame him to
speak of. I foolishly spurred my horse again. No
use — he would only walk. I dismounted; I could not
lead him along. So, out of temper, I rode him to
headquarters, which I reached at last. With a light I
found what was the matter with 'Billy.' A bullet had
entered his chest just in front of my left leg as I was
mounted, and the blood was running down all his side
and leg, and the air from his lungs came out of the
bullet hole. I rode him at the Second Bull Run, and
at the First and Second Fredericksburg, and at Antie-

10 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

tam after brave 'Joe' was killed, but I shall never
mount him again. 'Billy's' battles are over."

Just one more instance of the scores of the colossal
vanity of Haskell. It tells how General Meade turned
the command of the Army of the Potomac over to the
youthful First Lieutenant of Infantry — Frank Aretas
Haskell. It is to be found on pages 69 and 70 of the
Haskell "Narrative." The battle had ended, and the
Napoleon of Gettysburg, while patting himself on the
back, was planting data in his mind for printing in his
"Narrative," and thus Paul planted, and the Apollos of
Massachusetts and Wisconsin watered.

"Would to heaven Generals Hancock and Gibbon
could have stood where I did, and have looked upon
that field. But they are both severely wounded and
have been carried from the field. One person did come,
and he was no less than Major-General Meade, who
rode up accompanied alone by his son — an escort not
large for a commander of such an army. As he arrived
near me he asked, 'How is it going here?' I answered,
'I believe, General, the army is repulsed.' With a touch
of incredulity he further asked, 'What! IS THE AS-
SAULT ENTIRELY REPULSED?' I replied, 'It is,
sir.' And then his right hand moved as if he would
have caught off his hat and waved it, but instead he
waved his hand and said, 'Hurrah!' He asked where
Hancock and Gibbon were, but before I had time to
answer that I did not know, he resumed, 'No matter,
I- will give my orders to You, and YOU will see them
executed.' He then gave directions that the troops
should be reformed as soon as practicable, and kept in
their places, as the enemy might be mad enough to
attack again, adding, 'IF THE ENEMY DOES AT-
TACK, CHARGE HIM IN THE FLANKS AND
SWEEP HIM FROM THE FIELD— do you under-

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 11

stand?' The General then, a gratified man, galloped
in the direction of his headquarters."

Of course, General Meade rode back to his head-
quarters a gratified man. Had he not just received
the information from First Lieutenant Haskell that the
enemy had been "entirely repulsed?" and had not Meade
issued an order to this Wellington of Lee's Waterloo to
sweep the enemy from the field, if he were mad enough
to renew the attack, by charging him on the flanks?
General Meade's order to Haskell was so sedately hu-
morous as to leave us in doubt as to whether the First
Lieutenant and his horse alone were to charge the
enemy's flanks, or for Lieutenant Napoleon Wellington
Haskell to order the First, Eleventh and Twelfth Corps
to charge his left flank, and the Third, Fifth and Sixth
Corps his right flank, while Haskell and Dick swept
his centre from the field.

And this is the "narrative" that a Loyal Legion and a
History Commission feel honored in publishing. If the
object was to prove that they were just as vainglorious
as Haskell, has not this fact been fully established by
their published books? Vaccinated by the Haskell virus
of vanity and venom, the buffoonery of Haskell has
been transmitted by a Military Order of the Loyal Le-
gion, and the History Commission of a great State, to
their admiring friends and the public. Like Haskell,
"A great, magnificent passion came on them that seem-
ingly sublimed every sense and faculty — when, great
heavens! their senses mad," the Battle of Gettysburg,
by Frank Aretas Haskell, First Lieutenant, Sixth Wis-
consin Infantry, was "published under the auspices of
the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts, Military
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and
the Wisconsin History Commission."

General Roy Stone, of Pennsylvania, commanded the
Second Brigade, Third Division, First Corps.nat Get-

12 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

tysburg. Upon receiving serious wounds he was car-
ried from the field, and Colonel Langhorne Wister, of
Philadelphia, commanding the 150th Pennsylvania Regi-
ment, succeeded to the command of the Brigade, and
the Lieutenant-Colonel took command of the Regiment,
and soon after was shot in the leg, remaining in com-
mand until his right arm was shattered. Carried into
an adjacent barn, used temporarily as a hospital, the
flow of blood was stopped by a tourniquet, and the arm
bandaged — occupying about thirty minutes — after which
he returned to his regiment and assumed command,
maintaining the line held by it until the excruciating
pain and faintness from shock and loss of blood com-
pelled him to retire. The next day his arm was ampu-
tated at the shoulder.

For that — perhaps — unprecedented instance of hero-
ism at Gettysburg the Lieutenant-Colonel of the isoth
Pennsylvania was awarded a Congressional Medal of
Honor; he was promoted for bravery on the field of
battle, and this is what he. General Henry S. Huideko-
per, of Philadelphia, a member of the Loyal Legion,
Commandery of Pennsylvania, says of Haskell's book :

"In the first print much of what Haskell said was sup-
pressed, and we cannot but regret that any of it was
made public, for, from a historical standpoint, the story
is inaccurate and misleading, and from an ethical stand-
point it is indecent, venomous, scandalous and vain-
glorious."

And this is the "narrative" that the Military Order of
the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and the History
Commission of Wisconsin, have recently published in
attractive and costly form, giving the same wide circu-
lation, unmindful of the fact that thereby they are inflict-

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 13

Ing irreparable injury to both the living and the heroic
Klead.

THE PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE.

Colonel Chas. H. Banes, late President of the Market
Street National Bank, was a typical soldier of the Civil
"War; he was a leading member of the Baptist Church
in Philadelphia, and was as devout as a Christian as
Tie was heroic as a Volunteer Soldier. In 1876 Colonel
Banes published an interesting volume, entitled, "His-
tory of the Philadelphia Brigade." No man was as
competent as he to write such a history, inasmuch as he
had long been the Adjutant of the Brigade and in pos-
session of all its records. In his preface to that book
Colonel Banes says:

"The four regiments of the Brigade were composed
^chiefly of Volunteers from the city of Philadelphia, and
ior that reason might properly be called the Philadelphia
Brigade. It consisted of the 6gth, 71st, 72d, and io6th
IJegiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers. The command
had from the first enrollment until the muster out 350
field, staff and line officers, and over 6,000 non-commis-
sioned officers and privates. The officers and men of
1:he regiments were equal in courage, endurance and dis-
cipline to the best commands of the army, and their
soldierly bearing on the march and in battle helped to
make the history of the Army of the Potomac."

As to the charge of cowardice against a Brigade that
lost 3,533 in killed, wounded, deaths from other causes,
and missing, made under the allspices of Dartmouth
College, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of
the United States, Commandery of Massachusetts, is so
positive, so indecent, so scandalous, so brutal, and so
absolutely false, the Philadelphia Brigade, in formulat-
ing a reply to these malicious and infamous violations

14 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

of facts, has deemed it proper to submit, as briefly as:
possible, extracts from Colonel Banes' "History of the
Philadelphia Brigade," about what the Old Brigade did
from the time it received the order to move from Fal-
mouth, Va., until it met and turned backward the charge;
of Pickett's Division at the "Bloody Angle" of Gettys-
burg, on the afternoon of July 3, 1863.

BANES VERSUS HASKELL.

That "History of the Philadelphia Brigade," by-
Colonel Chas. H. Banes, which records with absolute,
truthfulness the part taken by the Philadelphia Brigade
from Ball's Bluff to Appomattox, was written with the
calm deliberation and adherence to facts characteristic:
of the man who stood foremost among his fellow citizens
of Pennsylvania for business integrity, Christian recti-
tude, and American manhood and honor, and sensitive
in the highest degree of his honor, and herewith is what-
that manly man, comrade and companion. Colonel Chas,
H. Banes, Adjutant of the Philadelphia Brigade, records:
in his history regarding the battle at the Bloody Angle
of Gettysburg, and the march from Falmouth immedi-
ately preceding that great battle:

"On Sunday, June 14th, our Division was ordered to-
move at very short notice. At about midnight the Sec-
ond Division, the last of the Army, moved from Fal-
mouth, obstructing the roads behind the column. At
noon, June isth, the command reached Stafford Court
House, where it halted two hours; then resuming the
march bivouacked at night five miles from Dumfries^
The day was very hot, the roads were filled with dust,,
and the march of 28 miles was so oppressive that a
number of the men fell from sunstroke and exhaustion.

"At about two A. M., on the i6th, the Brigade started
from Dumfries, where we halted a few hours. After'

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 15

-taking up the march through Wolf Run Shoals, Occo-
quan Creek, we camped for the night on a fine farm
belonging to an old bachelor named Steele, who was
very anxious that we should raise money to pay for the
damage to his crops. He did not succeed, his uninvited
guests being ragged and penniless. On the 17th we
:Teached Sangster's Station, Orange and Alexandria Rail-
road. Here the Corps formed in line of battle, facing
towards Bull Run.

"After maneuvering and countermarching the com-
rmand started on the 20th through Bull Run and Gaines-
ville to Thoroughfare Gap, where we arrived at midnight.
The last part of the march was very severe, and in the
■darkness men frequently stumbled over rocks, and into
ditches.

"The Second Corps remained at this place guarding
-the pass until the morning of June 25th. Two miles
laelow this point there was a less frequented road, but
tone easy of access, which was effectually blocked up for
some time to come by a detachment from the Brigade,
who were furnished with axes, with which trees were
felled in large numbers and thrown across the road.

"After leaving Thoroughfare Gap the Division was
^assailed by a battery while marching through Hay Mar-
ket. Before this was silenced a few of the command
were killed and wounded. Passing through Cub Run
the column crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry at
eleven o'clock on the night of June 26th.

"The next day the march was continued beyond
Barnestown, Maryland; and on the 28th our Corps ar-
rived two miles from Frederick, where the Brigade was
ordered to establish a picket covering the right of the
"Corps near the Monocacy.

"On the day of our arrival at this point General
Hooker, at his own request, was relieved from com-
mand, and Major-General George G. Meade, command-

16 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

ing the Fifth Corps, was designated as Commander-in-
Chief in his stead. There were other changes made of
subordinate commanders at the same time. Among:
these was the assignment of Brigadier-General Alexan-
der S. Webb to command the Second Brigade as suc-
cessor to Brigadier-General Owen.

"General Webb, although an officer of note in the
regular service, was unknown to the majority of the
command, but his force of character and personal gal-
lantry soon won the regard of the Brigade to as great,
an extent as that obtained by any of his predecessors.

"The advance of the Second Corps was begun early on
the morning of June 29th, and, with but few halts, it
was continued throughout the day. After tramping:
through the stifling dust under a burning sun, in heavy
marching order, a distance of more than 31 miles, Union-
town was reached, where the troops remained during
the 30th. On July ist the advance was again resumed
until a point four miles from Gettysburg was reached,,
where a halt was made."

Thus it was the Philadelphia Brigade reached Gettys-
burg, after marching about 170 miles from Falmouth to-
Gettysburg, in mid-summer, under a blazing sun, with
dust ankle-deep, as the rear guard of the Army of the
Potomac, obstructing roads while on the march, silenc-
ing batteries of the enemy, performing picket duty, and
doing the rear-guard work for a great army, and when,
on the march making from 20 to 30 miles a day— on.
June 29th marching more than 31 miles — and on July ist
marching from Uniontown, 20 miles distant, to within
four miles of Gettysburg. On the morning of July 2d,,
at early dawn, marched a distance of four miles, placed
in position at Cemetery Ridge, and taking part in the
second day's battle, as herewith further described by
Colonel Banes:

"On July 2d, at early dawn, the Corps was moved to-

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 17

the front and placed in position along Cemetery Ridge,
connecting on its right with the left of Howard's Corps ;
while the Third Corps, under Sickles, was ordered to
connect on the left and extend to Round Top.

"The Philadelphia Brigade, before taking its place in
line, was massed on the edge of a wood, near the Taney-
town Road, and a field return was made by the adjutant
of each regiment. Out of the entire number present for
duty when General Webb assumed command at Fred-
erick, there were but 13 men absent without leave; and
some of these, who had given out on the march, rejoined
their comrades before the action.

"By order of General Gibbon, commanding the Di-
vision, the Philadelphia Brigade was put in position at
six and a half o'clock A. M. on the 2d, on Granite Ridge,
on the right of the Division, its right resting on Cush-
ing's Battery A, Fourth United States Artillery, and its.
left on Battery B, First Rhode Island Artillery, Lieu-
tenant Brown commanding. The 69th Regiment was
placed behind a fence, a little in advance of the ridge,
the remaining three regiments of the Brigade under
cover of the hill in the rear.

"Immediately after assuming this position, a detail,
ordered from each regiment, was advanced as skirmish-
ers beyond the Emmettsburg Road and parallel with
the Confederate line of battle on Seminary Ridge. This
disposition was scarcely completed before the enemy
opened with sharpshooters and artillery.

"A few hundred yards in front of our line of battle
and towards the left, a farm house and buildings were
located. To prevent these affording cover to the enemy,
they were occupied by the Brigade pioneers, with orders
to destroy them upon a signal from General Webb. Dur-
ing the fight of Sickles the Brigade skirmishers were
engaged for an hour with those of the enemy, both par-
ties suffering losses, but neither giving ground. , This

18 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

contest was in full view of the entire Corps, and the
manly bearing of their comrades was a matter of pride
to the men of the Philadelphia Brigade. That portion
of the field lying between Granite and Seminary Ridge
being an open plain without trees or shelter, the con-
tests of our skirmishers were literally a series of duels
fought with riiles at an easy range.

" 'The enemy made the assault on the 2d at about six
and a half P. M. Their line of battle advanced beyond
one gun of Brown's Battery, receiving at that point the
fire of the 69th, of the 71st, advanced to the support of
the 69th, of the 72d and of the io6th, which had previ-
ously been moved to the left by command of General
Hancock. Colonel Baxter at this time was wounded.
The enemy maneuvred and fell back, pursued by the
io6th, 72d and part of the 71st. The 72d and io6th fol-
lowed them to the Emmettsburg Road, capturing and
sending to the rear about 250 prisoners, among whom
were one colonel, five captains and fifteen lieutenants.' "

"The assault, thus officially reported by Webb, was
«xecuted with much celerity, and when the column of
the enemy burst forth from the woods on Seminary
Ridge, it seemed but a few moments before the Em-
mettsburg Road was crossed, and our skirmishers driven
like leaves before the wind. As the Confederates ad-
vanced. Brown's Battery, with the exception of one gun,
was withdrawn to the rear of the 69th. Over this piece
there was a fierce struggle, but the fire of the Brigade
'was terribly severe, causing the enemy to hesitate and
then fall back. Those of the Confederates in the lead
threw down their guns and cried out with an oath:
*Get us out of this; it is too hot here.'

"And now a countercharge was made by the Philadel-
phia Brigade, along with those of other Brigades; the
assaulting column was rolled back almost as quickly as
it had advanced. The skirmish line was reformed on

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 19

its old connection, and shortly after, night coming on,
the fight on our portion of the line was over for the
2d of July.

"The pioneers in their exposed position were made
prisoners by the enemy, and the guard left by the cap-
tors remained at the farm house with their charge, in-
tending to move to the rear as soon as the heavy firing
was over. This decision was fortunate for our detail,
but unfortunate for the enemy, as the advance of Webb's
regiments swept by the improvised guard house and
changed the relation of its occupants.

"The io6th Regiment was ordered to report to Gen-
eral Howard, who placed it on the right of the Baltimore
Pike, near Rickett's Battery, where it remained until the
close of the battle. This regiment was highly compli-
mented by General Howard.

"On the morning of July 3d the 69th Regiment occu-
pied the same line at the fence in front of the clump of
trees on the ridge that it held the day before, while the
71st was deployed and connected with its right. One
wing of the 71st was stationed at the fence, while the
other was behind a stone wall to the right and rear.
The 72d was held in reserve, forming a second line to
the left of Brown's Battery, and in the rear of Colonel
Hall's Third Brigade.

"After the contest at Gulp's Hill there was a mo-
mentary pause in the operations of both armies. This
unusual calm was only broken by an occasional gun, or
the discharge of a sharpshooter's rifle. About one
o'clock, when the men were wondering what the next
movement would be in this great battle, a single Whit-
worth gun was fired from the extreme left of Seminary
Ridge, a distance of three miles. The bolt just reached
the right of our Brigade. Then at intervals along the
entire line solitary shots were fired, as if intended for
signal guns of preparation. These were quickly fol*

20 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

lowed by others, and in a few moments there burst
forth from the whole Confederate line a most terrific
fire of artillery. One hundred and twenty guns concen-
trated their fire on that portion of Meade's position held
by the Second Division, Second Corps. Shell, round
shot, Whitworth bolts, and spherical case were flying
over and exploding about us at the same time. Almost
every second ten of these missiles were in the air; each,
as it went speeding on its message of death, indicating
its form by a peculiar sound. The shrieking of shells,
or the heavy thud of round shot, were easily distin-
guished from the rotary whizzing of the Whitworth
bolt.

"When these agents of destruction commenced their
horrid work, no portion of the line, from the front to a
point far in the rear of the Taneytown Road, afforded
any protection against their fury. Men who had been
struck while serving the guns and were limping towards
the hospital, were frequently wounded again before they
had gone a hundred yards.

"In spite of the ghastly forms of mangled men and
horses, and in spite of the dismantled guns, exploding
limbers, and other scenes of horror, produced by Lee's
attack, the guns of Meade roared back their defiance;
while the infantry, powerless for the moment, rested on
their arms awaiting the bayonet charge they knew was
•sure to follow.

"Webb reports: 'By a quarter to three o'clock the
enemy had silenced the Rhode Island Battery, all the
guns but one of Cushing's Battery, and had plainly
shown, by his concentration of fire on this and the Third
Brigade, that an important assault was to be expected.
I had sent, at two P. M., the Adjutant-General of the
Brigade for two batteries to replace Cushing's and
Brown's. Just before the assault, Captain Wheeler's
First Nev/ York Artillery had got into position on the

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 21

left in the place occupied by the Rhode Island Battery,
which had retired with the loss of all its officers but
one.'

"When the New York Battery arrived and went into
action, Lieutenant Gushing had but one of his guns left,
and it was served by men of the 71st Regiment. The
Lieutenant had been struck by a fragment of shell, but
stood by his piece as calmly as if on parade, and as the
Confederate infantry commenced to emerge from the
■woods opposite, Gushing quietly said, 'Webb, I will give
them one shot more; good-bye.' The gun was loaded
Tjy the California men, and run down to the fence near
the 69th, and at the moment of the last discharge,:
just as the enemy reached the line, the brave Gush-
ing fell mortally wounded.

"At three o'clock the enemy's line of battle left the
woods in our front, moved in perfect order across the
Emmettsburg Road, formed in the hollow of our im-
mediate front several lines of battle under a fire of
spherical case-shot from Wheeler's Battery and Cush-
ing's gun, and advanced for the assault.

"The Union batteries increased their fire as rapidly
as possible, but this did not for a moment delay the
determined advance. The rude gaps torn by the shells
and case-shot were closed as quickly as they were made.
As new batteries opened, the additional fire created no
confusion in the ranks of the enemy; its only apparent
■effect was to mark the pathway over the mile of ad-
vance with the dead and dying. None who saw this
magnificent charge of Pickett's column, composed of
thousands of brave men, could refrain from admiring
its grandeur. As they approached the rail fence their
formation was irregular, and near the front and centre
were crowded together the regimental colors of the
entire division ; the scene strangely illustrated the divine
words, 'Terrible as an army with banners.'

22 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

"Now our men close up their ranks and await the
struggle. The Seventy-second, by direction of Webb, is
double-quicked from its position on the left and fills
the gap on the ridge where Cushing's Battery had been
in action. Just at this moment Pickett's men reach the
line occupied by the Sixty-ninth and the left companies
of the Seventy-first. General Armistead, commanding
the leading brigade, composed principally of Virginians,
in advance of his men, swinging his hat on his sword,
cries out, 'Boys, give them the cold steel!' Just then
the white trefoil on the caps of our men is recognized,
and Armistead's men exclaim, 'The Army of the Poto-
mac! Do they call these militia?'

"The final effort for success now commences. The
advance companies of the Seventy-first are literally
crowded out of their places by the enemy, and, with
one company of the Sixty-ninth, they form with the
remainder of Colonel Smith's command at the stone
fence. At the same instant Colonel Hall's Third Brigade
and the regiments of the First under Devereaux and
other officers, as if by instinct, rush to Webb's assistance,
while Colonel Stannard moves two regiments of the
Vermont Brigade to strike the attacking column in the
flank.

"And now is the moment when the battle rages most:
furiously. Armistead, with a hundred and fifty of his
Virginians, is inside our lines; only a few paces from
our Brigade Commander, they look each other in the
face. The artillery of the enemy ceases to fire, and the
gunners of their batteries are plainly seen standing on
their caissons to view the result, hoping for success,
while Pettigrew's Division, failing to support Pickett,
halts as if terrified at the scene. This is the soldiers"
part of the fight; tactics and alignments are thrown to-
one side. No effort is made to preserve a formation.
Union men are intermingled with the enemy, and int

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 23

some cases surrounded by them, but refusing to sur-
render. Rifles, bayonets and clubbed muskets are freely
used, and men on both sides rapidly fall.

"This struggle lasts but a few moments, when the
■enemy in the front throw down their arms, and rushing
through the line of the Seventy-second, hasten to the
rear as prisoners without a guard, while others of the
column who might have escaped, unwilling to risk a
retreat over the path by which they came, surrendered.
The battle is over, the last attack of Lee at Gettysburg
is repulsed, and the highest wave of the Rebellion has
reached its farthest limit, ever after to recede.

"General Armistead, who was in the Confederate front,
fell mortally wounded, close to the colors of the Seventy-
second. One of the men of that regiment, who was near
Tiim, asked permission of the writer (Col. Chas. H. Banes,
Adjutant Philadelphia Brigade), to carry him out of the
battle, saying, 'He has called for help as THE SON OF
A WIDOW, an order was given to take him to an
ambulance, and when his revolver was removed from his
belt, it was seen that he had obeyed his own command,
'to give them the cold steel,' as no shot had been fired
from it.

"At the close of Gen. Webb's official report he states,
^The Brigade captured nearly one thousand prisoners and
six battle flags, and picked up fourteen hundred stand of
arms and nine hundred sets of accoutrements. The loss
-was forty-three officers and four hundred and fifty-two
men, and only forty-seven were missing. The conduct
of this Brigade was most satisfactory.' "

Compare the calm, temperate, lucid, truthful and dig-
nified statement of Colonel Banes, who, as the Adjutant
of the Philadelphia (Webb's) Brigade, was more familiar
with its every movement than any officer or private
soldier could possibly be; a statement prepared with de-

24 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

liberation by a man of mature years, and ripened judg-
ment, with that of the raving, distracted, ridiculous
utterances of the youthful Lieut. Haskell, in his book
said to have been hastily written within two weeks after
the battle, written between his hours of duty, while on.
the march from Gettysburg back to Harper's Ferry,
written by him while not yet fully recovered from the
delirium of excitement that overcame him in the exalted
position he claims to have assumed, that of Supersedeas
Commander of the Army of the Potomac to annihilate
the Confederate Army, in the event of its renewing"
the attack.

It was the author Haskell who asked this question of
Lieut. Haskell:

"Great heavens! were my senses mad? — the larger por-
tion of Webb's Brigade — my God! it is true, was break-
ing from the cover of the works, without order or rea-
son, with no hand uplifted to check them, was falling
back a fear-stricken flock of confusion. A GREAT,
MAGNIFICENT PASSION OVERCAME ME as I
met the tide of these rabbits," and a lot more of such in-
coherent, disconnected trash, from the young Lieutenant
so OVERCOME WITH A MAGNIFICENT PASSION
that the aberration of mind which followed while writing;
that narrative was inevitable.

Col. Banes says, "This struggle lasted but a few mo-
ments, when the enemy in front threw down their arms,
and, rushing through the lines of the Seventy-second
hastened to the rear as prisoners without a guard."

It was these men of Pickett's Division hastening to the
rear whom Haskell met, if ever he met any one fleeing
to the rear on that occasion; but "Great heavens! his
senses were mad." A "Magnificent Passion" overcame
him. He was in a delirium of vainglory, and he mis-
took the defeated Veterans of Pickett's Division, seeking:

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 25

shelter from impending death, for the victorious Veter-
ans of the Philadelphia Brigade, and the Military Order,
Loyal Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts, and the
History Commission of Wisconsin, also apparently over-
come with a "Magnificent Passion" for book publishing,
reprinted his "Narrative" to the world, as their adopted
waif and heir.

It has been asked, what could have been Haskell's ob-
ject in so perverting the facts of history relative to the
Battle of Gettysburg? Gen. Henry S. Hindekoper, of
Philadelphia, who won high renown in the battle, aptly
answers the question in the statement made by him,
wherein he said of Haskell's "Narrative," that "from a
historical standpoint it is inaccurate and misleading, and
from an ethical standpoint it is indecent, venemous,
scandalous and VAINGLORIOUS."

After describing the first day's fight as minutely as
though he had observed it all from the cupola of the
Seminary Building on Seminary Ridge, Haskell thus
seeks to acquit himself from all misstatements by saying :
"Of the events of the first day of July I do not speak
from personal knowledge."

At two o'clock in the afternoon of July ist, Haskell
was at Taney town, 13 miles distant from Gettysburg,
and between 8 and g o'clock in the evening the Second
Corps was halted four miles south of Gettysburg, where
it, and Lieut. Haskell, biouvacked for the night; there-
fore — except detracting from officers and men who rend-
ered heroic service — no glory came to Haskell on the first
day. He "did not see what he thought he saw."

At early dawn on July 2d Hancock's Corps was moved
forward about four miles, and at 6.30 A. M. was placed
in position on Cemetery Ridge. The Third Division
(Hayes), on the right, connecting with the left of How-
ard's Eleventh Corps; the First Division (Caldwell's),

26 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

on the left, connecting with the right of Sickles, Third
Corps, and the Second Division (Gibbon), in the centre,
and Haskell started in early on the second day to catch
fame, and thus, according to his own "Narrative," he suc-
ceeded :

"A bullet entered the chest of my horse, 'Billy,' just
in front of my left leg; a kick from a hitched horse in
the dark that would likely have broken my ankle if it
had not been for a very thick boot, but which did break
my temper, and a bullet from a sharp shooter that hissed
by my cheek so close that I felt the movement of the air
distinctly."

And thus the "Narrative" recites as to the third and
last day of the battle :

"I had been struck upon the thigh by a bullet which I
think must have glanced and partially spent its force
upon my saddle. It had pierced the thick cloth of my
trousers, and two thicknesses of underclothing, but had
not broken the skin, leaving me with an enormous bruise,
that for a time benumbed the entire leg. At the time of
receiving it, I heard the thump, and noticed it, and the
hole in the cloth into which I thrust my finger, and I ex-
perienced a feeling of relief when I found that my leg
was not pierced."

We shudder when we think what might have happened
to that leg, if the bullet, when it saw Haskell, had not
so kindly glanced and spent its force on his saddle before
piercing the thick cloth of his breeches, and the two
thicknesses of his underclothing.

The second and third days brought sCant renown to
such an ambitious officer as First Lieut. Haskell, but
immortal fame is very chary with her favors. She tries
a man long, and she tries him hard, before wreathing
his brow with the laurel of victory, and fitting him for a
nitche in the Temple of Fame. Haskell realized all this
at the close of the battle on this afternoon of July third.

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 27

and he evidently concluded to create a niche for himself
in the holy of holies by a page or two of romance in his
"Narrative," and so he planned it all out.

Haskell knew — none better than he — that the Phila-
delphia Brigade met and repulsed the brunt of the charge
of Pickett's Division, but he would immortalize himself
as a hero by recording in his "Narrative," that the
Brigade broke from the "Bloody Angle" without orders
or reason, with no uplifted hand of Webb, or Banes, or
Dennis O'Kane, or Martin Tschudy, or R. Penn Smith,
or Theodore Hesser to check them ; that he, Haskell, met
them, "a tide of rabbits," and ordered them to halt, to
about face, and to fire, and hearing his voice they obeyed
his command, and he led them back to glorious victory,
and that he — as the one solitary horseman between the
lines, only 40 yards from the enemy — repulsed Long-
street's Corps, and thereby, therein and thereon ended the
great conflict at Gettysburg.

It was such a ridiculous page of fiction that if Haskell
had survived the vicissitudes of war, he would have
eliminated it, and if he died before the close of the Civil
War — as he did — he would trust to luck; he trusted
aright, for a Loyal Legion concluded to continue the
fiction, thereby placing its laurel on Haskell's brow,
crowning HIM the Hero of Gettysburg; and a State
History Commission concluded to fill a niche in the
Temple of the Immortals with the name and fame of
First Lieutenant Frank Aretas Haskell, but not until
fifty years after the fiction had been written, when few
were left to refute that romance of the most vainglorious
soldier of the Civil War.

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE LOSS OF
THE PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE.

The total number of officers and men present for duty
of the Philadelphia Brigade, at the Battle of Gettysburg,

28

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

was i>573, and the total loss was 491, given in detail, as
to regiments in the annexed tables:

NUMBEH PRESENT FOR DUTY

REGIMENTS

OFFICERS

MEN

TOTAL

General Staff

4

4

69th

22

312

344

71st

27

366

393

72nd

26

447

473

S06th

30

313

343

Brigade Band

—

16

16

Totals

U9

1454

J573

LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE AND
SECOND CORPS AT GETTYSBURG.

No.
of

No.o{KlUed

No. of Wounded

Captured or
Missing

TotoU

Regt.

Officers

Men

Officers

Men

Officers

Men

69th
7tst
72nd
I06th

4
2
2

i

36

19

42

8

8
3
7
9

72

55

139

45

2
3

15

16

2

I

137
98

192
64

Totals

9

105

27

211

5

34

491

TOTAL LOSS SECOND CORPS.

No. of KiUed

No. of bounded

Captured or
Missing

Total

Officers

Men
731

Officers

Men

Officers

Men
365

66

270

2923

13

4369

The following table, furnished by our beloved Com-
rade, Sylvester Byrne, was the last letter the Philadel-
phia Brigade Association ever received from that noble

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

39

soul — that Comrade who loved his Regiment and
Brigade with ardent and unfaltering affection. To the
very last he was faithful to and watchful of his Com-
mand. The statement was furnished for the purpose of
correcting some errors relative to the actual losses of the
Philadelphia Brigade. The table is printed just as it was
given by Comrade Byrne, and is regarded as his sacred
contribution to the Brigade's reply to Haskell's charge
of cowardice:

TABLE SHOWING THE LOSSES OF THE
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE FROM 1861 TO 1865.

RegU

Killed

bounded

Missing

Died of
Disease

Died of
Other Causes

Total

69th
7Ist
72nd
J06th

J 78

140

t95

99

346
396
558
416

185

330
165

157

91
91

60
81

15

6

10

14

815
963
988
767

Totals

612

1716

837

323

45

3533

The total loss in killed, wounded and missing of the
Philadelphia Brigade at Gettysburg was over 32 per
cent., about one soldier slain to every three engaged in
the battle. Call you this "running like rabbits?"

The total loss of the Philadelphia Brigade during the
Civil War was 3,533, of which number 545 were killed,
wounded and missing at Antietam, the remaining loss of
nearly three thousand was sustained in the 45 engage-
ments in which the Brigade took part, and yet with the
evidence of this loss, furnished by the United States
Government and easily accessible to all, and on file in
the library of the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, that
Order appears to stand sponsor for a "Narrative" which
falsely proclaimed to the world that the brave men of the

30 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

Philadelphia Brigade "ran like rabbits" from Pickett's
Division at Gettysburg.

What more need be said to convince this Military
Order of the Loyal Legion that from the beginning to
the end, the Philadelphia Brigade was just as loyal, just
as brave, just as heroic, as they, our comrades, and with
this statement of facts the Association of Survivors of the
Philadelphia Brigade calls upon the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts, and the
History Commission of Wisconsin, to retract the state-
ment made in the volumes published by them during the
year 1908, as to cowardice.

In meeting and repulsing the charge of Pickett's Divis-
ion at the Bloody Angle of Gettysburg, the High Water
Mark of the Civil War, the Philadelphia Brigade gained
imperishable fame that will live in history as long as our
country will exist as a nation, and that renown is so
irrevocably fixed in the annals of the War that it can
never be impaired while time itself shall last.

Since the foregoing reply was formulated, to the
charge of cowardice made under the auspices of the Loyal
Legion of Massachusetts, the Philadelphia Brigade
Association has received a book of 185 pages, entitled
"The Battle of Gettysburg, by Frank Aretas Haskell,
Wisconsin History Commission, Reprint No. i," an
edition of 2,500 copies, printed under authority of the
State of Wisconsin. In printing this book these words
appear in the preface :

"The Wisconsin History Commission has, in accord-
ance with its fixed policy, reverted to the original edition,
which is here presented entire, exactly as first printed."

And this is what that "History Commission" records
on pages 9 and 10 regarding the Eleventh Corps:

"Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon the
enemy, now in overwhelming force, resumed the battle

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 31

■with spirit. The portion of the Eleventh Corps making
but feeble opposition to the advancing enemy, soon be-
gan to fall back. Back in disorganized masses they fied
into the town, hotly pursued, and in lanes, in barns, in
yards and cellars, throwing away their arms, they sought
to hide like rabbits, and were captured, unresisting, by
hundreds."

The Loyal Legion of Massachusetts hadn't the courage
to print that paragraph in their book.

These regiments formed the Eleventh Corps at Gettys-
burg: 17th Conn., 82d 111., 33d Mass., 41st, 45th, 54th,
58th, 68th, 75th, 119th, 134th, 136th, 154th and 157th New
York; 27th, 73d, 74th and 153d Penna. ; 25th, 55th, 61st,
73d, 75th, 82d and 107th Ohio, and 26th Wisconsin. How
do the Survivors of these Regiments regard the state-
ment of the History Commission of Wisconsin, that
■"they sought to hide like rabbits?" and that the loss usu-
ally sustained by the Eleventh Corps was in prisoners?

And this is how the great State of Wisconsin, through
its History Commission, maligns General Sickles and
President Lincoln, who put upon General Sickles' shoul-
ders the stars of a Major-General. (Pages 40 and 41).
The Loyal Legion of Massachusetts eliminated the slan-
der against Gen. Sickles and President Lincoln.

"General Sickles commenced to advance his whole
corps, from the general line, straight to the front, with a
view to occupy the second ridge, along and near the road.
What his purpose could have been is past conjecture.
It was not ordered by General Meade, as I heard him say,
and he disapproved as soon as it was made known to him.
Generals Hancock and Gibbon, as they saw the move in
progress, criticised its propriety sharply, as I know, and
foretold quite accurately what would be the result. I
suppose the truth probably is that General Sickles sup-
posed he was doing for the best ; but he was neither born

32 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

nor bred a soldier. But one can scarcely tell what may
have been the motives of such a man, a politician, and
some other things, exclusive of the BARTON KEY
affair, a man after show and notoriety, and newspaper
fame, and the adulation of the mob, there is a grave re-
sponsibility on those in whose hands are the lives of ten
thousand men; AND ON THOSE WHO PUT STARS
ON MEN'S SHOULDERS, TOO! Bah! I kindle
when I see some things I have to see.

"It is understood in the Army that the President
thanked the slayer of Barton Key for SAVING THE
DAY at Gettysburg. Does the country know any
better than the President that Meade, Hancock and Gib-
bon were entitled to some little share of such credit?"

It is inconceivable that the great State of Wisconsin
would in any way lend herself to the dissemination of
what is not only untrustworthy, but absolutely scanda-
lous, malevolent and false information, except it was
done in ignorance of facts. It is still more inconceivable
that the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, soldiers them-
selves, would act as sponsors or in any way help, aid or
assist in depriving fellow soldiers of the honors fairly
and bravely won in a battle where their loss was 491 of
a total of less than 1,500 men, except they had given no
heed to the statements before publication.

We believe that the State of Wisconsin and the Loyal
Legion of Massachusetts can do no less as American
citizens and soldiers than to promptly disclaim all respon-
sibility for the statements set forth in Lieut. Haskell's,
book. For however good Haskell's record as a soldier
is, yet the fact must clearly appear to every intelligent
mind that a man who would speak falsely of his superior
officers and even go so far — at least in one case (Sickles)
— as to bring to life out of the long dead past, a sad, sad
epoch, which was no fault of his — displays in such writ-

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 33

ing a spirit unworthy of any American ; and his self laud-
ation of what he did — would cause anyone who was ever
on a field of battle to use one of Haskell's expressions,
"Bah."

A refusal to make this public disclaimer we feel would
place both the State of Wisconsin and Loyal Legion of
Massachusetts in a position which, to say it very mildly,
would be the reverse of creditable, and put them in the
attitude of sharing the ridicule and contempt which the
narrative of Lieutenant Haskell deserves.

NOTES, CORRESPONDENCE AND REMARKS.

NOTE NO. I.

This letter from General Alex. S. Webb is made a part
of this paper :

NEW YORK MONUMENTS COMMISSION

BATTLE FIELDS OF GETTYSBURG AND

CHATANOOGA

RIVERDALE-ON-HUDSON
NEW YORK.

September 7, 1909.
My dear Frazier:

I could not find your address, but I had Dampman's,
and wrote to him to try and obtain action on Haskell's
book which is now circulated by the thousands to take
from our Brigade and its Commander all the glory and
reputation we acquired at the Bloody Angle of Gettys-
burg.

So make it certain that our answer to the Massachu-
setts Commandery be strong and clear. What Haskell
wrote he wrote in ignorance. He paraded with the
stragglers and prisoners behind a fighting Brigade and

34 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

thought he was leading a Division.

Now, Frazier, let this denial of Haskell's claim be
strong and yet courteous. He is dead. Gibbon is dead.
Hancock dead. What a time to proclaim this falsehood.
Sincerely yours,

(Signed) ALEX. S. WEBB,
Brevet Maj. General, U. S. A.

NOTE NO. 2.

WHAT LINCOLN SAID.

It was Abraham Lincoln who said at the dedication
of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg:

"But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave
men, living and dead, who struggled here, have conse-
crated it far above our power to add or detract. The
world will little note nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here."

And yet the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Com-
mandery of Massachusetts, and the Wisconsin History
Commission, in so far as they authorized, or are respon-
sible for the publication of the Haskell "Narrative" of the
Battle of Gettysburg, are surely, surely doing what they
can to detract from what the living and the dead did
there.

NOTE NO. 3.

FOR CAREFUL CONSIDERATION.
A typewritten copy of this reply of the Philadelphia
Brigade Association, before being placed in the hands of
the printer, was sent to the Military Order of the Loyal
Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts; to the Wiscon-
sin History Commission, and to the Governor of Wis-
consin, asking if they had any explanation to make as
to the statements contained in Haskell's "Narrative,"

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 35

advising them that we would gladly give it in our printed
book.

As yet no reply has been received from the Loyal
Legion of Massachusetts, and for this grave discourtesy
we are at a loss to account, unless it be that after con-
sideration the facts submitted did not warrant them in
defending the position in which they v/ere placed, and to
acknowledge themselves in error would, to some extent,
at least, stultify themselves.

The Governor of Wisconsin, who is an ex-officio mem-
ber of the Wisconsin History Commission, writes under
date of February 24, igio, scarcely referring at all to
the matter under consideration, i. e., the conduct of the
Philadelphia Brigade in the Battle of Gettysburg. He
does, however, say that the purpose of the Commission
is to publish such material as from considerations of
rarity or general excellence it is deemed desirable to dis-
seminate. Haskell's book certainly comes under one
of these classes. We do not believe that among any
writings of either Union men or Confederates in all
the United States, such a rare book as Haskell's can
be found. The Governor of Wisconsin says that Haskell
in his story to his brother puts down in his letter "what
he saw, or thought he saw."

It would seem that comment on this is useless. That
history should be what the writer "saw, OR THOUGHT
HE SAW," is at least novel.

Chas. E. Estabrook, a Comrade of the Grand Army,
and its representative on the Wisconsin History Com-
mission, and its chairman, under date of February 17,
1910, while writing a somewhat lengthy letter, neglects,
also, to write of the matter under consideration, but says,
among other things:

"The subject of the criticism of the Eleventh Corps, by
Haskell, in his account of Gettysburg, was considered by

36 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

me, and I contemplated writing notes, OR GIVING
THE LATER, AND WHAT I THINK THE MORE
ACCURATE VIEW. I, however, concluded, in view of
the rule which we adopted, to have the other and later
account of the Battle of Gettysburg prepared by a Wis-
consin man, from the Wisconsin point of view, and some
months ago asked a staff officer, who served in that Corps,
to write an account of the Eleventh Corps at Gettysburg,
which he consented to do. This will be published as
soon as practicable after the same is delivered to the
Commission."

It would seem from this that Chairman Estabrook,
Past Department Commander, of Wisconsin, Grand
Army of the Republic, does not believe the statement
made by Haskell in his "Narrative," and that it is neces-
sary to have another book published to state truthfully
what the Eleventh Corps did. It would seem that it is
also needless to make any comment on the position taken
by Comrade Estabrook, Chairman of the Wisconsin His-
tory Commission. It is to be hoped that this steiff offi-
cer's book will be written from the stand-point of what
he saw, and not from what he thought he saw.

THE HISTORY COMMISSION'S VIEW.
Reuben G. Thwaites, Secretary and Editor of the Wis-
consin History Commission, speaking for the Commis-
sion, writes thus:

"OPINIONS, OR ERRORS OF FACT, on the part
of the respective authors represented, both in original
narratives and in reprints issued by the Commission
HAVE NOT, NOR WILL THEY BE MODIFIED
BY THE LATTER. For all statements of whatever
character, the author alone is responsible.

"Could any plainer statement than the foregoing be
phrased in the English language, to indicate that this

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 37

Commission certainly does not endorse whatever criti-
-cisms may have contemporaneously been offered by Lieu-
tenant Haskell?"

As the question has been asked us we reply: As Has-
kell has been dead for more than 45 years, and the foul
slanders were made public by the Wisconsin History
Commission in November, 1908, defaming President Lin-
coln, Generals Sickles, Howard, Doubleday, Barlow,
Schurz, Geary, Webb, Banes and other officers, and thou-
sands of brave soldiers, it certainly does look to the Com-
rades of the Philadelphia Brigade as though the Wiscon-
sin History fully endorsed everything that Haskell wrote.
Just how the Corps, Brigade and Regimental Associa-
tions, Grand Army Posts, Loyal Legion Commanderies,
public libraries, the newspaper press, and others to whom
this "Reply" will be sent will regard the actions of the
Wisconsin Commission and the Massachusetts Loyal
X,egion has yet to be determined.

Writing further, Secretary and Editor Thwaites says:

"If Haskell's account was worth reprinting at all (and
we thought it well worth doing), the only course open
-to us, as historians, was to present it just as it was orig-
inally issued, and not in the emasculated form adopted
by the Dartmouth editor, and the Massachusetts Loyal
Legion; changes of such character in a contemporary
document are unwarranted, and utterly ruin it as his-
torical material."

As this seems to be a question of ethics between history
makers, it is up to the Dartmouth editor, and the Massa-
chusetts Loyal Legion to satisfy the Wisconsin Com-
mission why the unwarranted emasculation was made
of the Haskell "Narrative."

The Wisconsin History Commission concludes its
letter of explanation and excuse to the Philadelphia
^Brigade Association in these words:

38 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

"In reprinting various other rare Wisconsin Civil War
material, as we intend to do, it may happen that the
original authors thus selected for treatment have criti-
cised certain commands; it certainly would not tend to
smooth the path of the Commission if each such com-
mand was thereupon to pass condemnatory resolutions.
WE shall certainly hope to be spared such treatment.'"

In reprinting the Haskell "Narrative" the Wisconsin
History Commission invited the criticism it justly de-
serves, and must expect to receive; and in their reprints
in the future, if it permits their authors to criticise other
commands — as they intend to do — They cannot escape
the condemnatory resolutions they hope to be spared.

The Man of Nazareth said : Give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure, pressed down, and runnings
over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the
same measure that ye mete, withal it shall be measured
to you again.

LETTER FROM MAJOR ROBERTS.
The following letter, under date of May 15, 1877, was-
written by Major Samuel Roberts, of the 72d Regiment,,
Pa. Vols., to a Comrade and friend:

"Webb's Brigade was composed of the 6gth, 71st, 72d
and io6th Pennsylvania Regiments; the io6th Regiment
had been sent to the right to reinforce Gen. Howard,
leaving the other three Regiments of the Brigade to re-
ceive the shock of Pickett's advance.

"The Brigade was not entrenched, nor driven back and
rallied by Webb. The left wing of the 71st Regiment
fell back a few yards ; the 69th maintained their position,
as did the right wing of the 71st. The 72d, which held
a position to the left, and a short distance to the rear of
the Brigade, moved by the right flank about one hundred
yards, and came to a front about sixty yards in front of

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 39

.Armistead's Confederate Brigade. Armistead fell only
a few yards in front of the 72d Regiment.

"With the exception of a slight change of position of
the left wing of the 71st Regiment, the Brigade not only
held its position, but advanced and captured several col-
ters, and the prisoners taken exceeded in number what was
left of the Brigade, which lost nearly fifty per cent, in
killed and wounded — the killed and wounded of the 72d
was over fifty per cent.

"Cushing's Battery, which was attached to the Brigade,
was served until men were not left sufficient to work
the guns. Gushing obtained volunteers from the Brig-
ade, who served the guns until Gushing was killed.

"Webb's Brigade, called the Philadelphia Brigade, was
■originally commanded by Gol. E. D. Baker, who was
Tcilled at Ball's Bluff. It was the Second Brigade, Sec-
ond Division, Second Gorps, Army of the Potomac, and
forms the prominent feature in Rothermel's painting of
the Battle of Gettysburg."

NOTE NO. 5.

GETTYSBURG BATTLE FIELD DISPATCHES.
From official dispatches sent from Headquarters, Army
-of the Potomac, to the War Department, during the prog-
ress of the third day's fighting, which were given out to
the Associated Press about midnight, being held back
until assured that the Union Army was victorious.

"Gettysburg, July 3d, 3 P. M. — A great attack is now
being made on our left center by a powerful column of
l?ebels. We can see them advancing in hosts. Their
lines are half a mile in length. They have to march a
mile before they can strike a line. All of our artillery
has now opened on them and we can see them falling
"by hundreds; In a few minutes they will strike our line,
and the fight will be at close quarters."

40 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

"Gettysburg, July 3d, 4.30 P. M. — We have won a great
victory. The fight is over and the Rebel lines hurled
back in wild disorder. Longstreet's whole Corps seems
to have been swept away, from our fire. The field is
covered with Rebel dead. Wild cheers ring out from
every part of our lines. Thousands of Rebel prisoners,
are being brought in. Sheaves of battle flags and thou-
sands of small arms are being gathered in by our men.
The rejoicing among our men is indescribable.

"Gettysburg, July 3d, 5 P. M. — Our victory is more
complete than we could dare hope for. An immense col-
umn of the enemy, at least 20,000 strong, attacked our
left center and were utterly destroyed by our fire. The
column consisted of Longstreet's Corps, and but few of
them are left. Nearly all were either killed, wounded,
or are now prisoners in our hands. I hear that Hancock,.
Gibbon and Webb are severely wounded. The Philadel-
phia Brigade is almost destroyed. They met the most
violent rush of the enemy and lost terribly. Col. O'Kane,
of the 69th, is killed, and there is hardly a field officer left
in the Brigade."

"Gettysburg, July 3d, 10 P. M. — Our victory grows
more complete as we get time to realize its magnitude.
It looks as though nearly all of Longstreet's Corps had
been destroyed. The field in front of the Second Corps,
where the brunt of the attack fell, is covered with Rebel
dead. In front of the Philadelphia Brigade they lie in
great piles. Hundreds of Rebel officers are among the
fallen. Gen. Armistead, of Pickett's Division, fell within
our lines. He was shot through the body and is now
dying. The Rebel Generals Garnet and Kemper, fell in
front of the 69th and 71st Pennsylvania Volunteers. All
the field officers of the former Regiment are killed. The
slaughter on both sides has indeed been frightful. Our
men are busy gathering in the wounded, many of whom-
must die during the night for want of proper attention."

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 41

NOTE NO. 6.

LETTER FROM AN INTIMATE FRIEND OF
LIEUTENANT HASKELL.

Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. ig, igio.
"I am in receipt of your favor and note what you say
about the extract from the book published by the Wis-
consin History Commission relative to the description of
the Battle of Gettysburg, by Col. Haskell. It confirms
what I stated in my letter to the "Public Ledger" in
September last. My daughter, who resides in Milwau-
kee, has sent me a copy of the book that you mention^:
I knew Col Haskell intimately and was confident from
the intimation that I possessed that had Col. Haskell
lived to see the end of the Civil War he would have modi-
fied his description of the battle, as compared to that
shown in the publication made by the Loyal Legion of
Massachusetts.

Yours very truly,

W. YATES SELLECK."

Mr. Selleck was the military agent at Washington for
the State of Wisconsin. The remains of Col. Haskell
were forwarded to Mr. Selleck, at Washington, D. C,
who sent them by express, on June 7, 1864, to Haskell's
mother, at Portage City, Wisconsin. In Mr. Selleck's
letter to the "Public Ledger" of Philadelphia, under date
of September 21, 1909, he said: "I was intimately ac-
quainted with Haskell and had several conversations with
him after the Battle of Gettysburg in regard to that bat-
tle, and I have good reason for stating that had Haskell
lived until the close of the War the criticims contained in
his diary would not have been made public."

42 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

NOTE NO. 7.

THE CONCLUDING NOTE.
What amusing history makers the Companions of the
Loyal Legion of Massachusetts and the Comrades of the
Wisconsin History Commission are! The State of Wis-
consin enacted a law creating a History Commission, and
straightway it begins printing very costly books, which
they claim to be "histories of great battles of the Civil
War," one of which "histories" the Governor of Wiscon-
sin sententiously says: "Is what the author saw, OR
THOUGHT HE SAW" ; and because of its inaccuracy
the chairman of that History Commission contemplated
correcting by himself, "writing notes giving the more
accurate view," but instead engaged a staff officer, who
really saw what he thought he saw, to write a book
correcting the inaccuracies that Chairman and Comrade
Estabrook himself contemplated doing ; and in the mean-
time the Secretary and Editor of the Commission "in-
tends reprinting other rare Wisconsin Civil War
material," regardless of the supremely ridiculous opin-
ions or errors of facts of the authors, thereby continu-
ing to hold the State of Wisconsin responsible for the
ridicule and expense that attach to such so-called his-
tories, one of which a distinguished officer of the Civil
War pithily characterizes as "inaccurate, misleading, in-
decent, venomous, scandalous and vainglorious."

CAPT. EDWARD THOMPSON, 69th.
CAPT. JOHN D. ROGERS, 71st.
JOHN W. DAMPMAN, 71st,
THOS. H. EATON, 72d.
FRANK WEIBLE, 72d.
WM. H. NEILER, io6th.
JAMES THOMPSON, io6th.

Committee on Publication.

•tmb.

■SsiiEi